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Official - Road to Ashes 2023

Adders

Cricketer Of The Year
Nice to have the subbie at last......can we have the England player watch and Neser threads moved in here too? They're pretty much all Ashes focused.
 

halba

International 12th Man
Xi by xi side by side comparison

First test

1. Warner v Crawley - Crawley slightly - both average.

2. Duckett v Khawaja - Duckett slightly in these conditions

3. Labuschagne v Pope - marnus here

4. Smith v root. - edge to smith

5. Head v brook - brook for sure, head average in seaming conditions

6. Green v stokes - green, stokes can't bowl much

7 Carey v Bairstow - no contest here, Bairstow easily. I don't rate Carey overseas conditions

8. Anderson v Cummins - Cummins as Anderson has fitness issue

9. Robinson v neser - tie, both are great on seaming decks

10. Lyon v leach - Lyon but England doesn't spin much

11 - Broad v Boland - broad in these conditions

Overall - England should win the series based on their better batting line-up for these conditions. But it should be close given Australia's bowling strength and fitness will be a key issue. Anderson and broad are old.
 

trundler

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A big difference between the 2 sides is that the Australian attack tends to perform as less than the sum of its parts whereas England's doesn't. And Robinson blows Neser away, the former is a proven test match gun.
 

Qlder

International Debutant
Labuschagme now 4th on Div 2 run scorer list with all 3 above him having played an extra game to him. Not a bad warm up for the Ashes ?
 

halba

International 12th Man
A big difference between the 2 sides is that the Australian attack tends to perform as less than the sum of its parts whereas England's doesn't. And Robinson blows Neser away, the former is a proven test match gun.
Ok Robbo in these conditions due to proven track record. But in this live series it might be a tie in terms of ability. Robbo is tall and generates a lot of seam movement- he will be the key for England given he is young and not 40 year olds(anderson, broad)
 

halba

International 12th Man
Neser isn't even in the squad. He'll come into calculations anyway but listing him as part of the first eleven is a bit much.
Hazlewood is reportedly struggling and Neser is the only like for like in the extended squad. Bowls wicket to wicket and seams the ball.

Starc and boland is a toss up for the 4th seam up spot.

Overall the batting is more important and England have the vastly superior batting lineup- they got most of the bases covered, if they manage to drop Crawley for someone else. Bairstow, Root and Brook are English ATG material - right up there with past ATG's Cook , Strauss and Pietersen. Australian batters are all at sea vs seam in english conditions- bar smith and labuschagne. Carey looks average and not patient enough against quality attacks.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Hazlewood is reportedly struggling and Neser is the only like for like in the extended squad. Bowls wicket to wicket and seams the ball.

Starc and boland is a toss up for the 4th seam up spot.

Overall the batting is more important and England have the vastly superior batting lineup- they got most of the bases covered, if they manage to drop Crawley for someone else. Bairstow, Root and Brook are English ATG material - right up there with past ATG's Cook , Strauss and Pietersen. Australian batters are all at sea vs seam in english conditions- bar smith and labuschagne. Carey looks average and not patient enough against quality attacks.
Boland is much more similar to Haze than Neser is.

Not sure why Neser would leapfrog Starc before the series even starts when he wasn't in the squad to begin with. I mean I wouldn't hate it at all, I just don't think it's at all likely.
 

Nintendo

Cricketer Of The Year
Hazlewood is reportedly struggling and Neser is the only like for like in the extended squad. Bowls wicket to wicket and seams the ball.

Starc and boland is a toss up for the 4th seam up spot.

Overall the batting is more important and England have the vastly superior batting lineup- they got most of the bases covered, if they manage to drop Crawley for someone else. Bairstow, Root and Brook are English ATG material - right up there with past ATG's Cook , Strauss and Pietersen. Australian batters are all at sea vs seam in english conditions- bar smith and labuschagne. Carey looks average and not patient enough against quality attacks.
Let's just take a look at the respective lineups before saying one batting lineup is better, right?

Khawaja>Ducket, Don't need to explain this, LOL

Warner>Crawley Warner averages 27 opening in england, crawley averages 23 opening in england, warner is a far better player overall

Marnus>Pope Don't think this is a serious debate either

Smith=Root. You can probably make an argument for either at the moment and i'de believe you. Smith is better on career numbers, and since the start of the last ashes in england is averaging 56 compared to root's 52. But if you go after the 2019 ashes (which I think is fairier, given that smith clearly got worked out after that at home vs NZ and struggled a bit more) root averages 55 compared to 46 for smith.

Brook>Head I could see an argument being made for head but he doesn't have the away runs to validate this. Neither have played in typical english conditions since hitting their straps in test cricket so not sure how to do this, gonna give it to brook for generosities sake.

Green>Stokes. Stokes has the ability to play more impactful innings but green has a much better domestic FC batting record in a harder comp, and since green's debut green averages 37.7, Stokes averages 30.5.

Bairstow>Carey No real debate here.

Both tails are dog**** unless england play woakes or curran at 8, which I don't see them doing in the 1st test.

Australia are clearly better, maybe a bit closer if you put root ahead of smith which I could see. This lineup is also being a bit generous given that england may play woakes at 7 if stokes can't bowl, so think that evens out the root/smith factor.
 

Qlder

International Debutant
Marnus out for 138 so ends his County stint with 5 games, 502 runs @ 71.71, 2 hundreds, 2 fifties

I bet England wish they had a squad member with that many runs ?
 
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Anil

Hall of Fame Member
Marnus out for 138 so ends his County stint with 5 games, 502 runs @ 71.71, 2 hundreds, 2 fifties

I bet England wish they had a squad member with that many runs ?
Did he face any test level pacers in that stretch?
 

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